In search of myself...

The even semester here sees little cricketing action at the institute level, but for a few inter-collegiate tournaments. One such is the prestigious IIT - Sanmar trophy involving various colleges from the city known for their cricket teams and IIT Madras as the host, besides being a participant. This year, the enthusiasm for even semester cricket was sporadically greater and the first match against D G Vaishnav college was a glorious re-incarnation of the India-Bermuda match of the nationally infamous World Cup 2007, with IITM playing India. The hosts put up a thundering 251 off 30 overs with three batsmen scoring express half-centuries. I was one of them. Otherwise, why would I write this? ;-P Our opener, Amit, gave us a good start as he managed 54 quick runs. It was the flamboyant Ayush next, who got out after a lovely little cameo. And then it was our captain Dharik and myself for the rest of the time. We settled faster than usual and put on a century partnership in no time. I woul

"Anand, you are playing across." - most common comment when I bat. "You have shuffled across so much that your middle and leg stumps are seen." - a common quote when I try to flick the ball off the pads. "Don't run away from the leg stump." - cricket coach during school days. "When the ball is bowled straight at your middle stump, play it straight back to the stumps at the other end. You are playing it to mid-on." - Coach @ IITM. "Your bat is coming from gully. Get it straight at the ball." - another feather in the cap. With such comments being heard after every batting session, I hereby give myself the title, 'crossbatsman' . Batting across seems to be a congenital defect!

This is the fourth attempt at suicide by a student that I came across after I entered IIT and the third successful one. That makes it roughly one per semester. The reasons ranged from love-failure to low grades to financial crisis. Today was the fourth and it was a student who had an 8 plus grade on a scale of ten and had also won a scholarship. He belonged to the batch of first year students of M.Sc in Mathematics. There is nothing heroic about their deed that makes me write here. Just feelings of pity at their state of mind when they attempt suicide. I am still unable to comprehend what it is precisely that makes them think that death is the only solution to their problems! What makes them leave everyone near and dear at times of need, totally defeating the purpose of having near and dear ones! Most importantly, at the age of twenty five and odd, when people make plans to live, they make plans to die and succeed. How much of life have we seen at this age to decide against it? As Si